A People's History of the Vampire Uprising_A Novel

by Raymond A. Villareal

  John Dory stared straight ahead.

  Senator Ward placed his fork down on the table. The restaurant was clearing out the few patrons that had finished their meals. It had suddenly become very quiet. “The Gloamings chose their way of life and continue to choose that way of life. I’m not judging your choice either. Many Gloamings have used their re-creation for noble purposes, I’m certain. But the others you mention who have disabilities would choose another way if they could. We would be forcing local counties and cities to open all government functions basically twenty-four hours a day. Buses would have to make the same accommodation. Perhaps legislatures would need to have night sessions. Voting booths, elementary and high schools, colleges—where does it all lead?”

  Dory nodded. “I understand your concerns—entirely valid. This is merely a starting point for the discussions to follow.”

  With somewhat of a sigh, Senator Ward took a drink of his wine. “Then we will leave this to another discussion and I will assure you that I can keep an open mind in the interim.” And with that the meeting concluded, and Dory knew he still had a long road ahead of him.

  When Senator Ward ended up cosponsoring the Gloaming Rights Act three months later, naturally there was an abundance of speculation: had Senator Ward re-created as a Gloaming himself? What other reason could there be? But that was totally inaccurate. No one could ever know Ward’s true reasons, but I suspect his conversion to the Gloaming cause was due to Dory’s money. Representative Ruben Drew of Louisiana, the father of a Gloaming, introduced the Gloaming Rights Act in the House, as Senator Ward introduced the identical bill in the Senate.

  The evolution and construction of the bill as it progresses through stops and starts over a period of eight months is a fascinating process of logic, emotion, and political grandstanding, which many historians have captured in more rigorous detail.2

  The bill that we eventually constructed proposed the following elements:

  Educational institutions that receive federal funds must accommodate the Gloaming population with night classes at least two days a week during each semester. Elementary, middle, and high schools shall not be required to make accommodations to the Gloaming populations. The Department of Education shall study the viability and economic impact of Gloaming accommodations for children’s schooling when the Gloaming population reaches a yet to be determined percentage of the population. Gloaming parents of Gloaming children shall be eligible for an educational tax deduction of 50 percent for any tutoring or homeschooling expenses incurred.

  States and municipalities shall be required to provide early nighttime voting for Gloamings in every election. Every state shall comply whether the state has an early voting period or not.

  Essential government services consisting of driver’s license renewals and exams shall accommodate the Gloamings with nighttime hours at least three nights per month, and Gloamings shall be exempt from certain licensing restrictions—such as a picture required on a license—based on their physical characteristics.

  The bill prohibits discrimination against Gloamings by covered employers. This applies to an employer who has fifty or more employees for each working day in each of twenty or more calendar weeks in the current or preceding calendar year. The bill would also prohibit discrimination against an individual because of his or her association with another individual classified as a Gloaming, such as by intermarriage with a Gloaming.3

  With the context of the bill intact, advisers to the president indicated that the president would support the bill in its current form. However, even with that important endorsement—although not public—the bill was on decidedly shaky ground. With lobbyists working overtime, the head count in the Senate was still fifty-two to forty-eight against passage. And this didn’t even take into account the group of five or so hard-line senators that vowed to filibuster any Gloaming Rights Act. At the time, surviving a filibuster was thought to be the biggest challenge to the bill.

  The head count in the House was passage by two votes, so if our side could hold on to those votes then we could spend our time concentrating on the Senate and attempt to persuade the two most likely converts to the bill: Senator Colin Peterson of Minnesota and Senator Matt Kelley of Illinois. Both senators were wavering on the merits of the bill, more concerned about the costs associated with the act as opposed to any misgivings about the Gloamings.

  The two senators wanted to ensure that private business would not be affected by the act and any costs associated. Equal People determined that passage of the first Gloaming Rights Act was more important as a first step than a bill that met every one of their wishes. It was enough to have the government accommodate the Gloamings; Equal People figured subsequent bills could add more protections and include private businesses. So they approved of the bill that we constructed.4

  The president then did an interview on Good Morning America where she wholeheartedly endorsed the Gloaming Rights Act and discussed why the bill was needed at this point in time. It was an important event in the history of Gloaming rights. Of course, commentators parsed her language and wanted to know why she used the words “only bill” and “final bill” when discussing the act when many Gloaming advocates considered this bill to be the first in a series of measures giving Gloamings equal rights.

  The interview became more pointed when the president was asked about her reaction to the recent re-creation of the previous president and why he wasn’t present at any of her appearances given his stature and importance to the Gloaming community. She deftly avoided the implication and question by saying that she was confident they would be making appearances together and that his support for the bill was crucial. However, many off-the-record statements from aides to the president indicated that she was extremely angry that the former president did not inform her of his impending re-creation and that this swiftly pushed the Gloaming rights issue when she had intended to proceed with a more measured approach.

  After the initial period of media attention and the president making a strong case for this limited bill, sixty senators came out to support the vote to deny a filibuster of the bill. It didn’t mean that the bill had sixty votes in favor, but it did mean that a large majority supported a clean up or down vote on the bill in the Senate. This was probably the most important hurdle that was jumped, and now the members in favor of the bill could discuss the merits without having to argue against a filibuster.

  On October 12, in the House of Representatives, 140 Democrats and 80 Republicans voted for the Gloaming Rights Act—newly renamed the Equal Rights for All Act—and 95 Democrats and 120 Republicans voted against it.

  The Senate Judiciary Committee then passed the newly renamed Equal Rights for All Act.

  Gloaming opponents could see that the act was very close to passage, so they upped their opposition to the bill. They ran commercials contending that being a Gloaming meant having the NOBI virus and that it should be considered an illness, not a segment of the population. They argued that people were not born Gloamings through no fault of their own, but that they actively sought out this virus that limited the freedom of their full lives by making them avoid sunlight. It didn’t help that many of the more outspoken and radical Gloamings began to refer to themselves as “bloodsuckers” or “blooddrinkers.” Of course, the Gloaming opponents seized upon this and advertised it at every chance as proof that the Gloamings were a threat and never intended to fully assimilate into proper society.

  However, on November 7, in the Senate, forty Democrats and twenty Republicans voted for the Senate’s version of the bill, called the Equal Rights for All Act, whose lead author was Senator Robert Logan from New York. Twenty-five Republicans and fifteen Democrats voted against the bill.5

  The president signed the Gloaming Rights Act into law on February 10.

  Many people would point to that day as the last time the human majority felt any sympathy with the Gloaming minority.

  1 His photographic memory became a well of knowledge of pa
rliamentary procedure and Senate rules. Most senators could not be bothered to learn the intricate and mind-numbing rules of order, so Tommy became a body of proficiency to lean on when in need of parliamentary help. After a couple of unopposed terms, he became the indispensable majority whip and retained significant influence given his knowledge of the legislative rules and his inherent charm.

  2 See Appendix Three.

  3 However, an employer is permitted to discriminate on the basis of a protected trait where the trait is a bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ) reasonably necessary to the normal operation of that particular business or enterprise. The BFOQ exception is a narrow exception to the general prohibition of discrimination based on being classified as a Gloaming.

  4 A week of massaging by the White House chief of staff, who assured the senators that the president would actively support the bill, brought them back into the fold, although with a decided air of uncertainty. On July 10, Representative Ruben Drew of Louisiana introduced H.R. 4287, the Gloaming Rights Act. Representative Drew, whose daughter Wendy had re-created the previous year, was soon thrust into the media as the new face of the Gloaming rights movement. Although not a Gloaming himself, Representative Drew could articulate their positions from the point of view of a loving father and, more importantly, could appear on camera.

  The bill was reported out of the House Judiciary Committee by a vote of thirty-one to twenty-nine, which was a bit closer than we expected at the time. The bill was opposed by many members of the committee on the merits; however, other members who were inclined to support the measure voted against the bill in committee because of the expedited consideration of the bill and the absolute dictate from the chairman that he would not entertain any amendments to the bill. The deliberations during the closed committee meetings were stressful and the atmosphere toxic. Shouting could be heard down hallways, and there were even a few pushing and shoving matches between staff members. Threats were commonplace and were made every hour of meeting until no one could be bothered to remember what particular type of retribution was coming their way, if any. A broken iPad Pro 3-D that belonged to the ranking minority member was left in a hallway and no one took responsibility for the act, but the assistant chief took to wearing it around his neck like a re-created Flavor Flav of the future to every staff meeting as a sign of disapproval. The bill was thought to be dead in the water when the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus decided to withhold any endorsement of it. Reports from the Internet and the news said that the Gloamings were composed of less than 5 percent people of color; other sources stated that it was even less than that. The Gloamings protested that the figure was grossly overstated and that a complete census of the Gloamings was an impossible task given their tendency to live off the grid and their secretive nature. However, the Gloaming leaders in Equal People assured the congressional critics that their racial makeup compared favorably with that of the actual demographic racial composition of America. After much discussion and assurances from the Gloamings that they would conduct a census of their people within a ten-year period of time, the black and Hispanic caucuses came out in favor of the bill.

  5 On November 28, after experiencing a broad backlash from his constituents regarding his support of the Equal Rights for All Act, and after a news report came out that he had received free plane rides from a wealthy Gloaming and his daughter had received a job from a wealthy Wall Street Gloaming, Senator Graham McCoy of Ohio reversed his position and stated that he would not vote for the bill nor would he vote for cloture, effectively a vote supporting the filibuster of the bill.

  Supporters of the bill now realized that the sixtieth vote needed to pass the bill was not there anymore. Senate supporters of the bill, both Republicans and Democrats, decided to use budget reconciliation in order to get to one bill approved by the House and the Senate. The use of budget reconciliation only required fifty-one senators to vote in favor of the bill in order for it to be approved and sent to the president for a formal signature which then enacts the bill.

  The Senate began to deliberate H.R. 2212, a bill dealing with tax breaks for companies whose inventory has been damaged and determined unusable due to a stage four natural disaster. As the United States Constitution required all revenue-related bills to originate in the House, the Senate took up this bill since it was first passed by the House as a revenue-related modification to the Internal Revenue Code. The bill was then used as the Senate’s vehicle for its Gloaming Rights Act, completely revising the content of the bill. The bill as amended would ultimately incorporate all elements of the House and Senate bills, which were almost identical as passed by the respective committees. With the anti-Gloaming minority in the Senate vowing to filibuster any bill they did not support, requiring a cloture vote to end debate, sixty votes would be necessary to get passage in the Senate. When Senator McCoy changed his position, supporters of the bill only had fifty-nine votes for cloture.

  The supporters then drafted the Gloaming Rights Reconciliation Act, which could be passed by the reconciliation process. Once again, Senator McCoy changed his position for reasons that would not be clear until years later, when it was confirmed that he had re-created. Shortly after he resigned his seat, he went to work for a Gloaming hedge fund.

  Dagens Nyheter (Stockholm)—October 11—Daily Edition1

  The Swedish Ministry of Justice and the Swedish Police Authority announced this morning that, in what seem like separate incidents, two bodies were found decapitated and two car explosions occurred—both on the same evening that wealthy housing manufacturer Nils Karlsson was the victim of a robbery. The Ministry believes all three events are connected. The theft occurred at Karlsson’s downtown Italianate brownstone with its distinctive gold-bracketed cornice and towers, located in the affluent Östermalm district, among the eclectic shops, art galleries, coffeehouses, and restaurants. The thieves took approximately 182,922,000.00 Swedish krona ($20 million) worth of 400-troy-ounce (438.9 ounces) Good Delivery gold bars from the secure basement safe of the house. The safe also contained a large amount of precious stones which the robbers ignored. The elaborate security system was triggered, and as three police officers were two blocks from the scene, two car explosions on the main street caused them to delay their arrival by thirty minutes. Two decapitated bodies, possibly witnesses, were found in an Audi parked across the street from Karlsson’s house. Sources close to the Ministry said that elevated radiation levels indicated that the perpetrators were Gloamings.

  Comments Section 1:23 a.m. [written in English]

  Profile: Anonymous

  Text: I was there that night when the robbery occurred. I’m a bike messenger for food deliveries. I had just dropped off an order at some condos when I stopped by the street where the robbery occurred. I was resting and texting when I saw this Mercedes van—all blacked out—park in front of the brownstone. About ten people clothed in black coveralls with masks piled out of the van with this weird precision. It was unnerving so I kind of hid behind a truck and watched. The men or women then came out in pairs, carrying something covered by a blanket. While this was happening, one of the figures walked over to a car parked three car lengths from the truck. There was a couple sitting in the car. The figure opened the door and bit the woman as he or she punched the man. The figure then bit the man and I could see the figure using hands or an implement to cut the heads off. I was shaking and sobbing. I crawled under the truck and stayed there. I don’t know how long it took or when they left. I will not go to the police. I fear who these people are and if they are Gloamings I fear them even more.

  1 Translated into English from Swedish.

  Chapter 9

  April 5

  Twenty-Three Months After the NOBI Discovery

  Hugo Zumthor

  Special Agent in Charge of Gloaming Crimes Unit, FBI

  You want to hear something really funny? And I mean laugh-out-loud funny. Where did the vampire open a savings account? At the blo
od bank!

  Okay, for real: the Gloamings love gold. I mean, we all love gold, but their infatuation with gold was something extraordinary, bordering on obsessive. I was convinced the Gloamings sought gold because of the metal’s excellent ability to conduct heat and electricity, and its ability to reflect infrared radiation—given the Gloamings’ physical ability to emit radiation themselves, it could be a soothing element for their system. But just the vision of a Gloaming rifling through a pile of gold like some fairy tale or Lord of the Rings character—I don’t know why, but this always makes me chuckle.

  Other investigators and scientists have suspected that Gloamings somehow coat their clothing and skin, perhaps, in gold to reflect their radiation back into themselves. But the physical purpose of this has yet to be determined.

  At the time the Gloaming Crimes Unit was formed, the FBI had not established a Gloaming connection to the reports of gold theft—until an ambitious new agent who, studying the evidence for many months like a reclusive scientist, found that each theft of gold coincided with a performance of the opera Nixon in China traveling the country. It seemed a tenuous connection, yet it fit together like a puzzle.

  This all-Gloaming opera production that was touring the country—I still trip on how, instead of being an accomplice to the boredom of America, an opera actually helped catch a Gloaming—was a high point in Gloaming history because it brought the Gloaming people and culture to many who might not ever have come in contact with a Gloaming, given their reclusive nature and inability to appear on video or audio. This connection soon brought me into the orbit of Cian Clery.